UFW, Community Held Vigil to Remember Fallen Teen Farm Worker (Maria was 17 & pregnant)

[Omaha Steve]

http://launionaflcio.org/fullstory/2009-05-13/UFW-Community-Hold-Vigil-to-Remember-Fallen-Teen-Farm-Worker-/

A vigil will be held at 12:00pm (noon) Thursday at the Los Angeles Produce Market in Los Angeles in honor of 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, who died of heatstroke last year while laboring in a San Joaquin Valley vineyard under nearly triple digit temperatures.

Maria of Lodi was pruning grapevines in a vineyard owned by West Coast Grape Farming, east of Stockton, on May 14, 2008 when she collapsed. She had been working for nine hours with no adequate access to shade or drinking water and temperatures peaking at 95.

The native of Oaxaca, Mexico, who was two months pregnant, died two days later of heatstroke. Maria’s death attracted national media attention and public outrage due to the employer’s gross negligence and labor law violations concerning the young worker.

Maria’s uncle Doroteo Jimenez, who has been actively fighting alongside the UFW for better working conditions for farm workers since the passing of Maria, will also join community members and religious leaders in the prayer and vigil to honor her.

“Maria was a beautiful human being who came to this country with a lot of dreams and the desire to work hard and help her mom and younger siblings who stayed back in Mexico, but her dreams were cut short. A year after her passing, the best way to honor her is by making sure farm workers are protected and treated with dignity and respect,” said Jimenez.

Who: Victim’s uncle Doroteo Jimenez, Mssr. John Moretta

What: UFW will be holding a vigil to honor farm worker Maria Isabel Jimenez

When: Thursday, May 14, at 12:00pm (noon)

Where: Los Angeles Produce Market on Olympic and McGarry, just one block west of Alameda in Los Angeles

The event will be open to the media. For more details, please contact Roman Pinal UFW Organizer, at [e-mail], [phone]